Planning the bigger picture

“He who fails to plan is planning to fail.” 

Winston Churchill

Planning certainly isn’t a new concept and, although success can of course be achieved without deliberate planning, it is widely appreciated that careful and meticulous planning contributes greatly towards increasing the likelihood of achieving a desired outcome and therefore determines success.

As with any sport, the higher the level you are aiming to achieve, the more detailed and comprehensive the plan needs to be. Gymnastics is a complex sport with disciplines encompassing multiple apparatus or events with components and skills that often transfer between one another. Planning a period of training or competition preparation phase is one of the key abilities of a successful coach. It enables them to use their time in the gym in the most efficient way, working smarter, not harder to progress along a clearly laid out timeline to achieve the greatest amount of progress over a given period.

Making a plan is essentially creating a ‘route’ or ‘roadmap’ of getting from A to B, providing us with a clear pathway with specified aims and targets. It focuses and gives direction to our efforts ensuring they contribute towards our overall objective, whilst also acting as an overview of all aspects of the coaching process to establish complete alignment towards the end goal.

“The end we aim at must be known, before the way can be made.”

Jean Paul

Before we begin to build our plan, there are a few points that must first be considered and determined in order for the plan to be effective;

Vision – Much like completing a jigsaw, in order to put the pieces together correctly and efficiently a finished picture is required. Each gymnast has only one chance to achieve their potential – it is the coach’s job to ensure this chance is not wasted.